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DESCRIPTION A flaw in bounds checking in the do_brk() function in the Linux kernel versions 2.4.22 and previous can allow a local attacker to gain root privileges. This issue is known to be exploitable; an exploit has been seen in the wild that takes advantage of this vulnerability. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0961 to this issue. APPLICABILITY The OfficeServer and older DM (developer) disk images were shipped with a 2.2 linux kernel, which is not vulnerable to this problem. Therefore most netwinder users do not need to be too concerned about this advisory. Furthermore, it is believed that the do_brk() exploit cannot be used successfully on ARM platforms. The nw-9 image shipped with kernel-2.4.19-rmk7-nw1, therefore users of that image should upgrade their kernel just in case. SOLUTION The necessary patches have been backported to the 2.4.19 kernel for use on the NetWinder. Later versions of the kernel are presently not recommended for production use due to stabilty issues on NetWinder. Download the following RPM packages to the NetWinder into a temporary
directory, then install them with the command "rpm -Uvh *.rpm". Be sure
there are no other files ending in ".rpm" in the temporary directory. See
http://www.netwinder.org/security/install.html for more help. Required packages ftp://ftp.netwinder.org/pub/netwinder/updates/nw-9/armv4l/kernel-2.4.19-8.armv4l.rpm Optional packages ftp://ftp.netwinder.org/pub/netwinder/updates/nw-9/SRPMS/kernel-2.4.19-8.src.rpm REFERENCES |